大象传媒

Officials in Haiti have confirmed that at least 1,297 people were killed by a powerful 7.2-magnitude earthquake at the weekend. Rescuers are picking through rubble in a desperate search for any survivors. Homes, churches and schools were among buildings flattened in the quake.

Frantz Pressoir is the Programme Support Manager for Plan International, one of the organisations involved in the relief effort.

He says their work has been made much more difficult by numerous factors: political uncertainty after the assassination of the President, the pandemic, an upcoming storm, and attacks by criminals on the main road in and out of the affected area.

"Every day there are cases of vehicles targeted by bandits on the road so this situation complicates the delivery of aid... The police have not been able to control the gangs on this road for several weeks."

(Photo: Workers carry out debris removal, search and rescue work, in Les Cayes, Haiti. Credit: EPA)